The Men Who Stare at Goats is one of those movies you see a commercial for a couple of weeks before it’s released. It has some big names attached, so after you see it you say, “Hmm. Might have to check that one out.” You go the movies by yourself, because hey, you like to do that every now and then. That night at home, your wife asks you what you did that day, and you reply without even looking away from the TV, “Uhh…oh yeah. I saw that movie. The goats one.”
Ewan McGregor plays Bob Wilton, a reporter who, after a messy separation with his wife, has come to the Middle East, not only to report on the war, but to prove to himself that he has what it takes to do it. Wilton finds more than he bargained for when he meets Lyn Cassady (Clooney), who tells him that he was once part of a top secret military unit involved in psychic warfare. Wilton goes into Iraq with Cassady on a mission to find Bill Django (Bridges), Cassady’s former commander and the founder of the Army’s psychic battalion.
To me, The Men Who Stare at Goats has a lot in common with the The Informant (which you may or may not remember). Both are lighthearted, quirky comedies, and both are pretty deadpan in their presentation. I think Goats works out better in the end because you understand why it’s a comedy. The thought that the Army would actually invest money and resources into creating psychic soldiers — or as Jeff Bridges calls them, warrior-monks — is ridiculous. Another reason the movie is like The Informant is because of how forgettable it is. After seeing it and telling your friends that it was pretty funny, you’re probably not going to think about it much more, if at all. Which is a shame because, judging from the trailers, this is a movie I felt should have been bigger.
Clooney turns in a solid performance. His character is funny without coming off as a borderline schizophrenic (Burn After Reading?). Ewan McGregor is pretty solid himself, although it takes you a little big to get used to him talking in an American accent. One of the funniest parts about his role is the fact that the movie keeps making references to Jedis. I remembered, “Oh yeah. He was in Star Wars. I had forgotten about that because of how much the prequels sucked.”
Kevin Spacey works really well as Kevin Spacey. Don’t get me wrong, he’s a great actor but his role here is so small I almost wonder why he did the movie at all. Maybe it’s that after you make a certain amount of money, you can start taking on roles just ’cause. I’d say that Jeff Bridges as psychedelic love child Bill Django really makes the movie. Watching Bridges prance around with his hippie necklaces and ponytail while tripping on LSD is going to be fun for anyone, not the least because of the fond memories of The Big Lebowski it brings back.
The movie is funny. It’s well-acted. Why would it be forgettable? I think that in the end it’s because the movie doesn’t really know what to do with itself. The plot meanders throughout and only seems to finally settle on something because, damn, it’s been 90 minutes already and we need to start wrapping this thing up. At first we’re focused on McGregor and his desire to prove himself as a man, then we settle on Clooney and his role in the Army, and finally we’re focusing on Bridges, who gets a chance at redeeming himself after being drummed out of the military. It’s not a lot to keep track of, just not what you were expecting.
I liked this movie. It’s funny and I had a good time with it. But in the end it seems more like a placeholder that’ll be buried by the masses rushing out to see 2012 and The Fantastic Mr. Fox next weekend. If you’re looking to avoid the crowds, check this one out. I doubt that the theater will be packed. B
I decided to check out this year’s Austin Film Festival at the last minute. I had originally planned on saving my money for the SXSW Film Festival, but got some advice from Charles Ealy, the movies editor for the Austin American-Statesman. He said that if you’re a writer, there’s no better festival than AFF. When he said that, I felt a burning deep inside me. It turned out to have more to do with some bad Mexican food than anything he was saying, but I went ahead and bought an AFF badge that night anyway.
While the film festival ran from October 22-29, the highlight for me was definitely the conference, which ran through the 25th. It’s held at the Driskill Hotel in downtown Austin. The important thing to remember about the Driskill is that just walking through it makes you an important person. That morning, after some short opening remarks from the AFF directors and staff (who really do an incredible job putting the entire thing together), I went to my first panel. “The AFF Conference: How to Work It,” led by screenwriters Julie O’Hora and Karl Williams. These sorts of panels on how to network can be hit or miss, but Julie and Karl had some great advice to give, the best piece of which was to try and relax and just get to know people. The level of access you have at the festival is kind of crazy, and the last thing you want to do is ruin it by shoving scripts into people’s hands. I ran into Julie several times over the next few days and was able to talk to her about her experiences in screenwriting. You can check out her blog here.
Next up was “The Art of the Pitch,” with Jessica Julius (Vice President of Production at Paramount), and Ashley Brucks (Creative Executive of Development at Walt Disney Animation Studios, and agent Jeff Graup. Although they talked a lot about pitching yourself rather than your ideas, they did give a lot of good advice on pitching your own material. They talked about writers they knew, some who had pitched their ideas in character or used props and things like that. The main point they hit over and over was to try and set yourself apart from the pack as much as you could. Jeff’s a great guy, and probably the most “Hollywood” person I met my entire time there. He doesn’t pull any punches, but I think he likes watching people squirm a bit. He got big laughs when he pulled out his Blackberry and started reading off bad pitches people had sent him. No matter how bad a writer you may think you are, just trust in the fact that there are people who are worse.
The day was a little light on panels, so afterward I went to the Festival’s Opening Night Movie Serious Moonlight. In it, Meg Ryan plays a work-obsessed wife who finds out that her husband (Timothy Hutton) is leaving her for a younger woman (Kristen Bell). I’ll have a full review of the movie closer to its release, but for now I’ll say that it was a lot funnier than I was expecting it to be. It was written by the late Adrienne Shelley, and to be honest, I’m only a so-so fan of her earlier work. Director Cheryl Hines was there to introduce the film and do a short Q&A afterward.
After the movie, I had some time to kill before that night’s Welcoming Party. I hung out in the Driskill Bar and met some people who were in town for the Festival. One of them was Eilis Mernagh, who had come all the way from Dublin, Ireland. At the party, Eilis introduced me to some of her friends, and they all sort of turned into my home base over the next few days. People I went to panels and hung out with. One of the great things about hanging out with such a large group of writers is how fast you all become friends.
During the party I tried to make the rounds and talk to as many people as I could. Eilis is better at it than I am, although it all got a lot easier as the night went on and everyone had the chance to unwind (or drink). Now for some shameless name-dropping. The highlight of the night was getting to talk to Lawrence Kasdan. Among other things, he wrote Raiders of the Lost Ark, The Empire Strikes Back, and Return of the Jedi. He was talking to Julie, so I went over with Eilis and we introduced ourselves, and we ended up hanging out with the same group of people for a while that night. After flipping over my badge and asking who I was, he asked me how I knew Julie. I told him that we had only met that morning at the panel she had done. He then asked what the panel was on, how she did, and what I took away from it. I was just happy not to do one of those things where I answer all of his questions and then make a funny, witty joke right before farting in front of everyone. So, chalk one up for me.
It was about 2:00 in the morning when the good folks at Buffalo Billiards started shoeing people out the door. I had to be back at the Driskill at 9:00 for the next day’s panels, so I said my goodbyes and headed home.
Under the Dome, the latest from Skeletor-impersonator Stephen King, hits stores next Tuesday, and Scribner Publishing has just released a trailer for the book. Tell me whether this looks like something from the Master of Horror or Pixar’s latest summer blockbuster, because seriously, I can’t tell.
I’ll admit that this one has me sitting on the fence. King’s writing has dropped off a bit over the years, but the book was inspired by another story he had written close to 30 years ago, so we’ll see. I DO however, have the book preordered. Right now, amazon is offering the book for only $9.00! That deal put me under the table. I couldn’t believe Amazon would offer the book for such a cheap price, and I can’t wait to sit in my domicile and start reading. Of course I’ll read in the dark by lamplight, because that’s the best way to read anything from Stephen. Some of his stuff is truly fit for a king, or King.
TNT, who are just great, great people, have rescued Southland, the cop drama NBC tossed out so it could focus on lesbian super heroes and Jay Leno. Now, TNT has the rights to rebroadcast the seven-episode first season, along with the six-episode second season that had been produced before NBC pulled the plug. TNT is playing things safe. They’ll wait to see how the show does before deciding on whether or not to move ahead with new episodes. But on a network on which Kyra Sedgwick has played a sassy, tough-as-nails police detective for more than four years, I’m not sure how the show wouldn’t be able to find an audience. As with all things, time will tell. Southland will premiere on TNT on January 12.
I’ve been doing some soul-searching lately, trying to decide whether or not I’m as into FlashForward as I thought I’d be. I have to tell you, I don’t think I am. It’s possible that more soul searching may be required. Anyway, Cinema Blend posted an article today that sums up a lot of my problems with the show perfectly. Par exemple…
The (yawn) characters (yaaaawwwwnn) are “yaaaaaaawwwwwnnnnn”:
Benford is an alcoholic. Demetri might die. After that, do we really care about anyone else in this show? I know I don’t. Benford’s wife is having an affair with some villain? Who cares. The other FBI agent is going to get pregnant? Snooze. Here is the biggest indictment of the whole cast: I have seen every episode and I needed to go on the website to find out any of the other characters’ names. That is bad, bad, bad. Maybe it is my fault for not paying enough attention, but honestly do you know what Mark’s wife’s name is? His sponsor? Anyone else? I know I don’t.
The entire article is compelling, and rich. Check it out here.
ABC’s remake of the classic sci-fi miniseries begins tomorrow, so you’ve got an important decision to make: Will you instead watch So You Think You Can Dance, or The Biggest Loser? I keeed, I keeed. I’m sure the show is going to be great. Well, scratch that. I’m not sure, actually. Every time I see that promo with Muse playing in the background I ask myself what exactly it is that ABC wants the show to be. Do they want something gritty and realistic, a show about people who slowly come to realize that these aliens are planning on taking over the planet, or do they want…a music video…for Muse. Add that to the fact that the show is going to take a months-long break after airing only the first four episodes, and I start feeling sad.
But of course I’ll be watching. And when the show is wildly successful I’ll put up with its seven-month long breaks in between seasons, and the questions that it won’t answer until its last couple of episodes. Why do I keep dating the same girl?
We’ve been waiting patiently for more than 20 years, and it looks like it’s finally going to pay off. Robert Zemeckis, the creative genius behind The Polar Express and The Back to the Future cartoon confirmed to MTV that the writers of Who Framed Roger Rabbit? are currently working on a sequel! No details on the plot just yet, but rest assured it’ll leave us looking at Jessica Rabbit and thinking, “I’d hit that.” Also babies who smoke cigars are funny.
On March 12th, Matt Damon stars in The Green Zone, also known as The Bourne Operation Iraqi Freedom. In any case, it’s proof that you don’t need Marlon Wayans to make a good G.I. Joe movie.
Sources at NBC have told sci-fi site Airlock Alpha that execs may be looking to put the kibosh on Heroes, maybe as early as the end of this season.
“There isn’t much happening with this show in terms of audience, and giving it a ‘final chapter’ feel is something the network is considering to help allow the show to go out with a bang,” said the source, who asked not to be identified.
While Heroes started out strong in its first season, its story has since turned into one giant clusterf**k and the show can never seem to decide exactly what it wants to do with itself. Is Sylar a good guy or a bad guy? Should we give Suresh mutant powers or not? Should everyone be able to swap powers so we can up the big explosion and cool factors? All important questions, but one thing is for sure: Future Hiro will comes back in time to tell someone that the world is in trouble…and only the Heroes can save it!
For now, you can file this under “Rumors.” You can also file it under, “It’s About Time.” “Everytime Ali Larter Tries Acting Sexy I Want To Punch Myself In The Privates,” would also be acceptable.
